Oct 14, 2025; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Nashville Predators forward Michael McCarron (47) celebrates with forward Cole Smith (36) after scoring a goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the second period at Scotiabank Arena. Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images
After a 4-1 victory in Ottawa against the Senators Monday afternoon, the Nashville Predators faced their first test of finishing a back-to-back on the road.
Tuesday night, the Preds traveled to Toronto for the second of a four-game swing through Canada. They fought hard, but came up short in a 7-4 loss to the Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena.
Jake McCabe, Oliver Ekman-Larsson, John Tavares, Bobby McMann, Auston Matthews (2) and William Nylander scored for the Maple Leafs.
Michael Bunting, Erik Haula, Roman Josi and Nick Perbix tallied the Preds’ goals.
The Maple Leafs were coming off two consecutive losses to the Detroit Red Wings, and took out their frustrations on the Predators. They built a 2-0 lead before the Preds roared back early in the second with two goals in 44 seconds to tie the score.
The Leafs answered with three goals of their own and staved off a spirited comeback by the Predators, who suffered their first loss in regulation and fall to 2-1-1 for the season.
Preds head coach Andrew Brunette scratched Brady Martin for the second game in a row. He told reporters earlier in the day this was part of Martin’s development plan.
With Martin sitting, Tyson Jost skated on a line with Filip Forsberg and Ryan O’Reilly. Ozzy Wiesblatt made his season debut and collected two assists on the night.
Here are three takeaways from the game.
The Preds Showed A Lot Of Heart
Toronto was desperate to play well in front of the home crowd, and showed it in the opening period.
The Preds couldn’t register a shot through the first six minutes, but finally began narrowing the gap and ended the frame with eight shots to Toronto’s nine. Problem was, two of the Leafs’ shots went into the net, and built a 2-0 lead.
The second period saw the Preds outshoot the Leafs 14-6, with McCarron and Haula bringing them even 2-2 with goals just 44 seconds apart.
Once again, Toronto refused to give in, and the Preds found themselves sinking in quicksand despite showing grit throughout the game.
The two teams traded a total of four goals in the final four minutes of the game. The Preds tallied eight goals in their first two road games, twice the number they scored in the first two home games combined. They left Toronto without a win, but didn’t allow the Leafs to run away from them.
Big Juice Was Outdueled
It was a battle of the backup goalies, with Justus Annunen getting his first start of the young season. Cayden Primeau was in net for the Leafs.
It was Primeau who came out on top, stopping 22 of 26 shots. Annunen saved 18 of 23 Leafs shots.
While Annunen kept the game from getting completely out of hand, he was out of position on McMann’s goal after Brady Skjei made a great defensive play on the initial shot. That gave the Leafs their two-goal lead back after the Predators had worked hard to get back in the game.
Juuse Saros has been virtually unstoppable through his first three games, posting a 2-0-1 with a 1.64 goals-against average and .947 save percentage. No one is expecting Annunen to be Saros’s equal, and the No. 1 guy has to be rested once in a while.
One game is too small a sample size to judge, but Big Juice will need to have some big games to keep hopes of a turnaround season alive for the Preds.
The Power Play Has Lost Power
Stop us if you’ve read this before: the Preds’ power play was stalled again.
The unit seems to be more inclined to pass rather than take a shoot-first approach. They’re failing to get penetration and find consistent chances to score.
Nashville came into the game a paltry 1-for-15 with the man advantage, an Tuesday did nothing to raise that percentage. They didn’t have as many opportunities as they did against the Sens the day before, but failed in both their tries against the Leafs.
The penalty-kill unit didn’t have to work as hard, either, compared to the penalty fest in Ottawa. They successfully killed off both penalties and are now 11-of-12 through four games.
Their only blemish on the young season came Monday against Ottawa, when they gave up an empty-net goal on a 6-on-4. Otherwise, they are perfect in 5-on-4.
